Clint & Harry: Solitude
by Star-Scrap
Summary: It had not been a good week for Clint. There had been nine different deployments, seven of them to other countries. Planes did not provide for adequate sleep, nor did moth eaten sheets on concrete flooring. Plain and simple, he was exhausted, stressed out, and in need of a good long nap. Set between The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier


It had not been a good week for Clint. There had been nine different deployments, seven of them to other countries. Planes did not provide for adequate sleep, nor did moth eaten sheets on concrete flooring. The mental strain of sitting in the same position, maintaining constant vigilance, for hours on end wasn't helping much either. Plain and simple, he was exhausted, stressed out, and in need of a good long nap.

He had just arrived at the newly dubbed Avengers Tower at frightfully early hours in the morning when he received another phone call from SHEILD.

He glared at the screen until the last ring.

"What do you want?" he snapped, answering it just before the call went to voicemail.

The deep growl of the director's voice sounded over the line, "There's another mission with your name on it."

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"And pray tell, why not?"

"... just no. okay? It was one of the requirements when I started this gig that I could turn down missions whenever I wanted. I've never used that privilege before, so let me use it now."

The line went dead immediately. Clint rolled his eyes at Fury's general pissiness.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, Clint stripped down until he was naked. It was times like these that he adored Tony's abundance of overspending on what he normally considered frivolous things. He fell backward into the cool smooth sheets. They were like a balm upon his skin, a lullaby when he needed it the most.

With one last yawn, Clint wrapped himself around a pillow and passed out.

Light filtered through the drapes, dust on the breeze came spinning into the room. It had to just be dawn, that was not enough time to sleep after the crappy week he had. Clint moaned and rolled away from the light, burying his face into the nearest warm object.

There was an echoing moan from his side, alerting him another presence. He smiled sleepily, recognizing the familiar curves of the body he was wrapped around. He mumbled a greeting into the neck of his bed partner.

The muffled reply was frank, "Go the fuck back to sleep. Talk to you when we're rested."

That evening, Clint woke up alone. Had he imagined waking up? He should have been to soundly asleep to dream. He swiped his arm lazily across the bed, finding only the cold brought on by a night's fresh breeze. Immediate depression swept over him. He missed the feeling of having another person, someone he can relate to, by his side. The craving of companionship made his skin itch and his heart ache.

He sat, staring blankly at the wall in front of him until Jarvis' voice brought him out of his trance.

"Sir, there seems to be a disturbance in the kitchen. I cannot discern the source of it, however. There seems to be a problem that I cannot make sense of." The robotic voice startled Clint out of his stupor. He leapt up, throwing only a sheet around himself before racing to the kitchen. His speed propelled him around a corner where the first thing he saw was Tony, his armor wrapped up to his wrist. And the second thing he saw brought light into his eyes.

Laughing hysterically, he draped himself, and his sheet, over the shoulders of the figure sitting at the counter eating a bowl of cereal.

Kissing his forehead, Clint smiled. "I missed you this morning, babe."

Shrugging, the man kissed him soundly on the lips. "Technically it was this afternoon. I apologize."

Tony still had his repulsor, ready to be powered up at any moment, aimed at the couple. "So, what, you bring home a hot piece of British ass and don't bother even telling Jarvis about it? How did Jarvis not know anyway?"

The two-fold glare aimed his way made him flinch. "Harry is my husband. Now if you don't mind, I'm taking him back to bed." The venom in his voice was nothing to scoff at. Steering Harry back to his room, he tightened his embrace around the younger man.

It was such a relief to have his partner by his side once again. He was a balm to his exhausted soul. He soothed the anxiety that came along with his job, sharing the load of his stress. With both of them together, their pain was relieved and their troubles halved.

After collapsing and fully wrapping himself around his husband, Clint kissed Harry's neck softly and asked, "How did you avoid being caught by Jarvis anyway?"

"Magic."


End file.
